Movie Review

Rating :

Verdict : My verdict is, the film may be a one-time watch. But if you expected too much out of the film, it may not be worth invest your money.

Once again Madhur is back with the story of darkness behind the glittering world. After the movie created enough buzz even before going on floors (with Kareena replacing Aishwarya), a lot was expected out of Bhandarkar, especially when, unlike his other ‘eye-openers’ Page 3, Corporate, Traffic Signal and Fashion, he talks about the industry where he actually is a part of.

 Heroine tells the story of Mahi Arora (Kareena Kapoor) – the reigning queen of Bollywood. Mahi is in love with the star Aryan Khanna (Arjun Rampal), who is married, but separated from his wife. Mahi wants commitment but Aryan is not ready. Mahi becomes needier as he refuses to acknowledge their relationship in public. Finally, she ends up miffing a star wife at a party and being dumped by Aryan. Mahi loses her standing in the film industry and gets completely distraught. But she soon picks herself up, hires a new PR, finds a new boyfriend (Randeep Hooda) and tries to rebuild her career and life. But suffering from bipolar disorder doesn’t make things easier for her. She continues to struggle to find her way through the manipulative and dirty world of Bollywood (as is made just way too obvious by the director). The final nail in the coffin comes when she becomes desperate and uses a cheap publicity stunt to make her movie a hit.(the scene where the film opens with Kareena being thrown out of a car. With kohl rolling down her checks along with tears, she gets to the police station.)

Like every other film of Bhandarkars, lead protagonist who has negative shades goes through the highs and lows in her life, enjoys a period of success and then goes through a low phase only to reform and rebuild herself as a human being. What Bhandarkar shows is not new to most of us. Almost all the characters though are seen puffing a cigarette and gulping down alcohol giving the impression that every person in the media – journalist, actor and PR – smokes and drinks all the time! There are some good performances that give you a glimmer of hope. Arjun Rampal as the confused star and Randeep Hooda as the loving and caring cricketer give mature performances. Divya Dutta as Kareena’s PR person is decent too.

The film is average but for Kareena’s performance made it watchable. She looks beautiful, glamorous and makes Mahi her own. In fact, some of the incidents seem to be lifted straight out of Kareena’s life (there is an MMS scandal as well). Kareena, who has for a long time been used as a glamour quotient in Rs 100 crore films, gets a meaty role and gives it her best shot. Some of the scenes in the film, although a bit unnecessary, need courage to be enacted and it comes as a surprise when a hard-core commercial actress like Kareena agrees to do such scenes. And then, does them so convincingly.

My staring rate goes 5 out of 5 only for Kareena Kapoor, who carries the film on her shoulders solely. She looks ethereal and makes the most of whatever has been offered to her in terms of her character. She brings depth to the role of a moody and emotionally unstable fading star. Some scenes are over the top and that affects her performance too. But Kareena especially shines in some scenes – when she is completely down and out and just nods in agreement to her manager, when she comes face to face with her ex-boyfriend and when she watches the TV to find out whether her publicity stunt has worked. But a corny script, some clumsy dialogues (by Niranjan Iyengar) and not up to the mark direction let her down. The film has no similarities to The Dirty Picture (except that both show the downfall of a star). Heroine tries to be an expose on the film industry and pretends to be bold, but it is amateur and stereotypical. It fails at the research level, script level and in the development of the plot and characters. It becomes bearable only because of Kareena. I give her five stars, but the movie doesn’t deserve them.